memory_alphafandomcom-20200223-history
Suicide
Suicide is the termination of one's life by one's own hand. The action can be a personal choice brought on by extraneous circumstances, part of one's culture, or a military directive. Cultural considerations * The citizens of the planets Eminiar VII and Eminiar III (Vendikar), prior to the end of their centuries long war, would voluntarily enter disintegration stations as part of a social contract. (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon") * Klingon warriors who become infirm or who lose honor may request the assistance of another to perform Hegh'bat, a form of ritual suicide. (TNG: "Ethics", DS9: "Sons of Mogh") * All Kaelons are required to perform suicide at age of sixty so that the elders won’t stress the society. (TNG: "Half a Life") * Some Vulcans perform ritual suicide when they "reach a certain infirmity of age". (VOY: "Death Wish") * A Bolian medical philosophy on euthanasia was developed during their Middle Ages known as the "Double Effect Principle". This form of assisted suicide stated that the relief of suffering was acceptable despite having the effect of causing death. (VOY: "Death Wish") * Xindi-Reptilians have a suicide gland used when they are captured. (ENT: "Rajiin") * Vortas are expected to commit suicide when they captured by activating their termination implant. Attempted/considered * Deanna Troi nearly killed herself under telepathic influence after experiencing very disturbing hallucinations. (TNG: "Eye of the Beholder") * Lieutenant Commander Data once considered zeroing his neural net, essentially wiping his entire memory and committing suicide. The formation of new neural pathways was very disorienting and he felt that starting all over again would be easier. He later decided not to do it. (TNG: "Eye of the Beholder") * Neelix nearly killed himself after being brought back from death with Borg nanoprobes and experiencing a serious crisis of faith. He almost beamed himself into open space, but fortunately Samantha Wildman managed to stop him in time. (VOY: "Mortal Coil") * Miles O'Brien almost killed himself with a phaser after experiencing two decades of virtual imprisonment in an Argrathi prison. (DS9: "Hard Time") * Worf wanted William T. Riker to help him perform a ritual suicide called Hegh'bat after experiencing a paralyzing spinal injury. (TNG: "Ethics") * Worf’s brother Kurn wanted Worf to kill him in order to restore the honor of their family. (DS9: "Sons of Mogh") * Vidiian Denara Pel attempted to kill her real Phage-ravaged body, after her consciousness had been transferred into a hologram, in order to spend more time with the Doctor. Eventually, she returned to her own body. (VOY: "Lifesigns") * The single survivor of a shipwreck, Anna, threatened to kill herself by jumping off a cliff in order to make Picard fall in love with her. In reality she was a man called Voval, an Iyaaran ambassador assigned to investigate the Human emotion of love. (TNG: "Liaisons") * While trying to fight Borg nanoprobes, Phlox gave Captain Archer a hypospray with a toxin that would kill Phlox in seconds should his Omicron radiation treatment prove unsuccessful. (ENT: "Regeneration") Suicide performed 22nd century * Ensign Masaro killed himself with a phase pistol after confronting Captain Archer regarding his involvement with Terra Prime. (ENT: "Terra Prime") * Commander Tucker sacrificed himself while trying to save Captain Archer from a group of alien criminals. (ENT: "These Are the Voyages...") 23rd century *Lieutenant Joe Tormolen, under the influence of a polywater intoxication after an away mission to Psi 2000, became morose and committed suicide by stabbing himself with a dinner knife. Although Tormolen recieved medical attention and his wound should have been treatable, he died in surgery. Doctor Leonard McCoy later remarked that Tormolen died because he didn't want to live. (TOS: "The Naked Time") *Commodore Matt Decker committed suicide after being relieved of command of the ''Enterprise''. As it turned out, in doing so he gave Captain Kirk the hint required to destroy the Doomsday Machine. (TOS: "The Doomsday Machine") * Kryton committed suicide with a phaser after sabotaging the engines of the Enterprise for the Klingons, in order to keep the sabotage secret. (TOS: "Elaan of Troyius") * The M-5 computer terminated itself after understanding its crimes against humanity. (TOS: "The Ultimate Computer") * Members of the Starnes Expedition to Triacus killed themselves as a result of mental illness inflicted upon them by the Gorgan, acting through their children. (TOS: "And the Children Shall Lead") * Dr. Sevrin knowingly ate acid-laced fruit on what he believed to be the planet Eden, rather than return to the Enterprise. (TOS: "The Way to Eden"). *Captain Clark Terrell vaporized himself with a phaser to stop the pain of the Ceti eel. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) 24th century * Lieutenant Daniel Kwan killed himself under telepathic influence by jumping to the plasma stream of the warp nacelle’s plasma injector. (TNG: "Eye of the Beholder") * In an alternate timeline, an elderly Jake Sisko injected himself with poison in order to save his father, who was trapped in subspace. (DS9: "The Visitor") * Quinn, a member of the Q Continuum, wanted to become mortal in order to kill himself. Later he succeeded, poisoning himself with toxin provided by Q. (VOY: "Death Wish") * Scientist Gideon Seyetik flew a shuttlepod into the dead star at Epsilon 119, dying in the name of science to restart the star's nuclear reactions. His wife Nidell was unable to divorce him even if she wanted to. He felt how unhappy she was and decided the only way to make her happy was to end his life. (DS9: "Second Sight") * Boraalan Vorin performed ritual suicide due to cultural shock. He was unable to cope with the transition from his pre-industrial culture to the highly futuristic 24th century. (TNG: "Homeward") * Defective clone Weyoun-6 killed himself with the Vorta termination implant in order to protect Odo. (DS9: "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River") * Hekaran scientist Serova blew up her ship while on board in order to prove that warp drives were dangerous. (TNG: "Force of Nature") * Romulan defector Alidar Jarok killed himself with a Felodesine chip after hearing that all his information was worthless and everything was futile. (TNG: "The Defector") * Vedek Yassim, in order to protest the occupation of Deep Space 9 and the evil the Prophets had seen in the Dominion, commited suicide on the Promenade of the station by hanging herself. (DS9: "Rocks and Shoals") * Luther Sloan triggered a suicide device while attempting to prevent Julian Bashir from finding the cure for the Changeling disease, stored in his memory. (DS9: "Extreme Measures") *The Cardassians claimed that William Samuels, a member of the Maquis responsible for the destruction of the Cardassian freighter Bok'Nor, committed suicide after his interrogation. (DS9:"The Maquis, Part I") *A squad of Jem'Hadar having failed to provent the death of a Founder, kill themselves for their failure, (DS9:"The Ship") Euthanasia Euthanasia is the termination of life by another party at the request of an individual who wishes to die. This may be for religious, cultural, or medical reasons. It can be regarded either as assisted suicide or as murder upon request of the victim. * Euthanasia services were provided to the victims of the "Quickening", the final stage of the painful, incurable and potentially fatal Teplan blight. (DS9: "The Quickening") * Leonard McCoy "pulled the plug" for his father, David McCoy, who suffered from a painful and incurable illness. Cruelly, a cure was found only a short time afterwards. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) Uncertain/Suicide missions Listed here are character(s) who have performed potentially lethal activities, knowing the possible consequences. * Kathryn Janeway and Tuvok stayed onboard the [[USS Voyager|USS Voyager]] while the ship was under a self-destruct sequence. (VOY: "Dreadnought") * In an alternate timeline, Kathryn Janeway rammed the Krenim temporal weapon ship in order to restore the timeline back to normal. (VOY: "Year of Hell, Part II") * Commander Data destroyed the Reman warbird Scimitar by firing a hand phaser at the thalaron generator, knowing it was totally impossible for him to survive the resulting explosion. (Star Trek Nemesis) :This is uncertain, as Data knew that his memory had been transferred to B-4. * In order to repair the warp engines of the Enterprise, Spock entered a radiation-flooded reactor room well knowing that he would probably not survive the radiation. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) :This is uncertain, as Spock transferred his ''katra to McCoy before entering the reactor room.'' * In order to get to the main engineering of [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|USS Enterprise-D]] and repair the antimatter containment field, Data had to take a chance of being electrocuted and killed. (TNG: "Disaster") * Captain Archer volunteered for a suicide mission to destroy the Xindi superweapon. However, he failed and was captured by the Reptilians. (ENT: "Azati Prime") * In order to give time for the rest of his crew to reach escape pods, Maximilian Forrest stayed aboard the [[ISS Enterprise (NX-01)|ISS Enterprise]] as it was being detroyed by the Tholians. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly") * Q, being stripped of his powers and the reason the Calamarain attack the USS Enterprise-D, leaves the ship in a shuttlecraft in an attempt to sacrifice himself and save the ship. (TNG: "Deja Q") Fictional suicides *In Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables, Inspector Javert commits suicide. (DS9: "For the Uniform") Methods of suicide *Products of genetic engineering like a termination implant or suicide gland *Self-destruct or ramming *Poisons and radiation *Weapons, such as a phaser or a knife Death wishes Sometimes, individuals may have suicidal urges that drive them into putting themselves into extremely dangerous and life-threatening situations. A tendency to expose oneself to such danger is often referred as a death wish. In 2372, during Worf's trial for destroying a Klingon civilian transport, Captain Benjamin Sisko told Odo to investigate the possibility that the Klingon captain had had a death wish. (DS9: "Rules of Engagement") After Kurn deliberately let a Boslic shoot him in one of Deep Space 9's cargo bays, Odo told Worf "a man with a death wish is a danger not only to himself, but to the rest of his team". (DS9: "Sons of Mogh") Michael Eddington pretended that he had a death wish, something that Benjamin Sisko was able to disprove in 2373. (DS9: "Blaze of Glory") In 2375, Tony Cicci wondered if Vic Fontaine had a death wish for coming back to the lounge, even though Frank Chalmers had told him to never set foot in the casino again. (DS9: "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang") Background information Suicide has been a plot element on several Star Trek episodes, but only "Eye of the Beholder" and "Death Wish" have discussed the ethics of suicide. See also * "Pattern Suicide" sv:Självmord